I have to say a big thank you to all of our supporters who cheered Bermuda Hogges to victory against Harrisburg City Islanders.

Your support and encouragement was greatly appreciated by both our coaching staff and players and I look forward to seeing you all when we take on Richmond Kickers at the National Sports Centre on Saturday evening.

I can assure it will be an even tougher game for Hogges and we will be banking on you again to get behind us. As a former player who played in front of some pretty big crowds, I know just how important supporters can be – you really do make a difference.

As our attendances hopefully increase, so will the expectation levels and our players will have to adapt to that and produce the goods. When you play well, the crowd let you know and when you're playing badly they make you aware in no uncertain terms. I know which one I prefer as I've experienced them both!

It's actually very beneficial, especially for a coach, because fans provide immediate feedback. Sometimes a coach tells a player he's not playing well but the player may disagree with him. But it's very hard for a player to disagree with hundreds of supporters who are more often than not correct in their assessment of a player's performance.

On the flip side, supporters can generate a wonderful atmosphere and inspire players to go the extra yard. And the more people we can get through the turnstiles the better it is for the health of the franchise.

We've reduced our prices in the wake of the credit crunch and we were very pleased with the turnout last Friday considering it was our first match of the season. Bermuda Hogges really are the best football product on the Island and I believe we are heading in the right direction.

I always feel the first 20 minutes is the crucial period for Hogges. Over the last two seasons we have conceded too many times early on and left us facing an uphill struggle straight away.

The longer the scores remain level, the stronger we seem to become as we start believing we can achieve a positive result. After the initial 20 minutes against Islanders I could see they weren't going to pose our defence a great deal of threat whereas we became more dangerous as the match wore on.

Although we returned from the US empty-handed in terms of points, I think our opening double header against Crystal Palace Baltimore and Real Maryland Monarchs helped the players get up to speed with the pace and physicality of the USL-D2.

If you look at our first season, it took us ten games to adapt while last season we were just too inconsistent. But against Islanders I thought we matched them in every department, particularly physically. I'm sure a neutral wouldn't have noticed any difference between the teams.

Our domestic game just doesn't have the same quality as the USL and our players are painfully aware that mistakes will get punished at this level. Encouragingly our defence hardly put a foot wrong against Islanders.

Up next for us are Richmond Kickers who are one of the best teams in this league. Just because we beat Islanders doesn't mean anything and if we show overconfidence we will get punished.

We will have to play better and show just as much effort and fight if we're to secure another home victory.

Lets go Hogges!

n For more details on the Hogges, visit the club website at www.bermudahoggesfc.com